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User blog:BlizzardDragon/The Issues with RWBY's writing, and how Volume 6 can possibly improve on them.
NOTE: I am currently working on Part 2 of my evaluation of the Villains, and trust me, it will be a long one. In addition I am typing this up on Monday 1/22/18, but will not refrain from spoilers as I plan to only post it after the Finale Releases. RWBY is far from a media masterpiece, that I'm sure we can all agree on. With Volume 5's ending, I've seen numerous opinions over the finale and volume in general, and I believe I've found the most generally agreed upon faults RWBY has, but how some of them will more than likely be improved upon in Volume 6. 1. Too Many Plotlines, ALL WAITING People have noted that since Volume 4, RWBY has had a habit of setting up numerous plotlines simultaneously, and randomly shifting between them just as momentum was being built up on one. Unfortunately, this problem has existed long before Volume 4, it just wasn't as noticeable. The Beacon Sage (Volume's 1-3) had a similar issue, the A Plot typically being reserved for Team RWBY, the B Plot being reserved for either Team JNPR or the Ozluminati. However, even among the A and B Plots there were smaller plots, such as Weiss' family issues, Blake's hunt for the White Fang, Jaune's pining for Weiss and self esteem issues, Pyrrha's maiden debacle, Ironwood's actions going against Ozpin, Yang's issues searching for Raven, and that's before you throw in the Villains. Volume 4 upped it though by having every girl of RWBY gain a plotline, giving one to Ren in the midst of Ruby's, having the Villains and Oscar get plotlines, and temporarily giving a mini plotline to Qrow. Volume 5 improved on this somewhat by melding the Ruby and Oscar plotlines together, melding the Weiss and Yang plotlines together, then melding all of them into one. However, it soon replaced those plotlines with even more. The Blake Plotline (Which already had a minor Sun branch) gained an Ilia branch and a lesser Ghira branch. The Villains plotline, initially just on Cinder, Salem, and Tyrian, added Watts, Leonardo, Hazel, and Adam to the mix, and Raven got a plotline after Yang left. Luckily enough for all of us though, every plotline melded into one come the Battle of Haven. So, as you can see, RWBY had a bad habit of setting up too many unconnected plotlines, or taking connected ones and breaking into more plotlines. With the Finale however, thats a bit more manageable. All of RWBY has reuninted, and Oscar, Qrow, and assumedly Ilia and Sun are with them too, melding their plotlines into one. We're bound to probably get minor branches, but they'll be more on the Beacon Saga's level of branches. Cinder's disappearence (I want to say death but that will invite all the theorists that think she's still alive) removes her from the Villain Plotline, and Leo's actual death does the same. Adam running off may give him a seperate plotline, but that is speculation. Then there is the fact that several plotlines have more or less been wrapped up. Ren's mini-arc ended in Volume 4, Ilia has joined the heroes, the White Fang is splintered apart and more manageable, Blake is now involved in the main plot, Haven has been saved, and Yang has (Temporarily) dealt with the Raven plotline. The point being, the Plot Tree has been pruned of the smaller branches, and the main ones can flourish. So with less plotlines to divert focus on, Volume 6 can be easier to manage. 2. Too Much Talking One of the issues I've routinely seen is that the show spent too much time talking instead of doing, focusing more on world building and exposition. While most of these complaints come from the ones who just want fight scenes (Which I will get too later), they aren't unfounded. RNJR and later Weiss and Yang spent more time talking or spouting exposition before the Fall of Haven rather than doing things, like exploring Mistral or Training. The former gives more world building (No I am not supporting the idea of seeing the Nikos Family. I have gone to hell and back explaining how that would just be seen as filler in an already filler laden Volume) by showing the situation in Mistral post Fall of Beacon, while the latter can satisfy the action junkies while showing the heroes progress in skill. But that isn't the real issue as to why there was so much exposition. No, there are two real issues: 1) The discarding of the World of Remant ''shorts. The shorts offered some useful information at times about things, like the genetics behind Faunus, the history behind the Great War, the nature of Aura, the history of the SDC. Problem was, most people were impatient and when they saw another short rather than another Episode, I more often saw complaints over making us wait, along with the fact not everyone could see them. Some were Rooster Teeth site exclusives, and with not everyone wanting to just go on another website instead of Youtube (I'm not joking, some people are just too damn lazy), they don't get to see them. By discarding the shorts however, the info that could have been exposited there had to be done in the show. 2) The seperation between the Main plotline and the Blake plotline. After RNJR, Qrow, and Oscar got to Mistral, the only thing they could do was wait to get the relic, same for once Yang and Weiss got there. However, with the Month time gap between their arrival and the day the attack was to happen, they had nothing to do, as all their other plotlines were either wrapped up, or couldn't move further until then. Meanwhile, Blake's plotline was still going and developing, but as there plotline was set initially 2 months behind the Main Plotline, later 2 weeks behind it, we still had plenty of stuff in her plotline to focus on. And since the Batlle of Haven would naturally be the conclusion of Blake's plotline, they couldn't just have the Main plotline skip over to it until Blake's plotline was finished. They trapped themselves by having the seperation of the plotlines not in focus, but in timeframe. As Blake's still needed to be done, they couldn't progress the main one until she caught up. This is rectified however with Blake's Plotline now being intergrated into the Main Plotline. As they are on the same timeframe now, they have no reason to force one plotline to wait so the other can play catchup. That being said however, that still leaves the Exposition issue. One method of rectifying this is bring the ''World of Remnants back, without diminishing the Episode Count. Another is by reducing the Exposition per episode, and balancing it with the "Action" (Not fight action just doing things in general, like Character interaction). Though the biggest idea that could fix it by Volume 6 is...... 3. The Show Don't Tell Rule One of RWBY's biggest critiques is that it doesn't follow the most basic rule of media: Show Don't Tell. Initially, I didn't see the issue, but I've come to agree that RWBY doesn't follow this rule...... all the time. The show can pull it off sometimes, it just doesn't always do it. Take the Raven is the Spring Maiden twist: Initially, it may seem to have come out of left field, but by engaging in the Rewatch Bonus Trope and going back to all the scenes where Vernal expressed "Maiden Powers", its easier to tell that it was Raven doing it and not Vernal. A retroactive Show Don't Tell. They showed us the answer to a question we hadn't known about yet. Now, this Issue is a bit more iffy because....... the FNDM is filled with idiots. I am not being rude or critical, I am stating the fact that this fandom is filled to the brink with morons and idiots. Not all of use are, but alot of us are. There are so many people in this fandom that don't pay any damn attention to the simplest of details. Just to name a few examples: 1) Only women can be Maidens. I can't believe how many people I have, and still do, subscribe to the idea that Jaune ''will be the next Fall Maiden. I'm serious. 2) The maiden's control all the elements. Yeah, people seem to forget that just because Cinder likes Fire, that doesn't mean Fall only controls Fire. Amber, the former Fall Maiden, used Fire, Lightning (A Subset of Fire in the Last Airbender Universe, but not here), Wind, and Ice when fighting Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. So when Cinder froze Raven in ''Vault of the Spring Maiden, ''there were actually people thinking Cinder got her hands on the Winter Maiden's powers. I'm not joking, one of the tweets in ''RWBY Rewind ''when Miles was on was asking if Cinder had Winter Maiden Powers too. 3) Qrow is Ruby's read Dad. I cannot tell you how many times I have come across ideas that Qrow is Ruby's dad. Even one of the more well know theorists, ''EruptionFang, ''had to make a video analyzing it and any evidence, and then admit at the end he ultimately disagrees with this damn theory, that's how often it comes up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcclpGfuQEs Small tangent, but Monty confirmed Ruby and Yang are Half Sisters via a tweet in 2014, meaning they share a single parent. If Qrow is Ruby's dad, that would have to mean Qrow is Yang's dad. And with Yang's Mom being Qrow's twin sister, that would mean Yang is the child of incest. Not to mention that Yang has clear traits of Taiyang (Blond Hair, Lilac Eyes, more of a brawler), meaning unless she dyes her hair, which she doesn't, she is Tai's daughter. That would mean the parent they have to share is Summer then, except Yang clearly inherited Raven's looks. (Raven was originally just a palette swap of Yang afterall before they gave her some other unique traits like Tear Lines and her pony tail) There is no possible way for the theory to be true unless the half sister claim is false, and considering they haven't lied once in their claims, it isn't. ''EruptionFang ''even cited the tweet as his main argument against the theory. I could go into further detail, but I believe ChishioKunrin explains it better here. http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Haven%27s_Fate#comm-551498 So, how does this make it iffy? Because unless some of us are actually told this shit rather than shown it, we never get it through our fucking skulls. So, while they could benefit to work more on the Show Don't Tell rule, I can't really fault them for not engaging in it seeing as the audience is comprised of some really damn stupid people. 4. 'The Quality of the Fights' As Much as I don't mind the show being more story driven than action oriented, I won't deny that the action is one of the major draws of RWBY, all thanks to the late Monty Oum. However, after Monty's unfortunate passing and Shane's departure from the company (I am not opening that can of worms anymore than I have too), the animation for the fights changed. The change since Volume 4, and with Volume 5, the reduction of action scenes in favor of narrative progression, or at worst, exposition scenes, has not been accepted by some. However, with the events of ''Downfall, ''The CRWBY seems to be making progress in getting closer to Monty's style. The beautiful song sung by Casey Lee Williams in the background, the lack of dialouge interrupting the fight outside of one incident with Cinder's Grimm Arm, the use of the enviroment, the tracking shots, the high speed action, all magnificent aspects. I've actually seen people say this is their favorite fight in all of RWBY, even more than the ones Monty animated. Even before then, in ''True Colors, ''we had the return of Sun's Gunchuks, something that had only appeared once before in Volume 1, and something even ''Monty ''couldn't do again. The rig he used in Volume 1 was from one of his older works and had simply been reused. He couldn't even replicate it in Volume 2. However, the CRWBY not only had him use it in ''True Colors, ''but even gave it a scene in ''Haven's Fate ''without it looking the exact same. This is in part because they have more animators to work with in using it. Torrian, one of the main animators of ''Screwattack for works like Death Battle ''and ''DBX, has it down too. In early footage shown for a DBX ''match starring Sun, we actually see his Gunchuks again. (Keep in mind this is still rough footage, so the finished product will look radically different) https://youtu.be/efAAjxh0LHg?t=1m42s Here's the thing, the CRWBY had to adapt to using the ''Maya Engine, and just getting used to it is not the same as mastering it. Monty Oum, and to a lesser extent, Shane Newville, were masters with Poser. The CRWBY however may have gotten used to Maya by now, but it will still take time for them to master it. And looking at both True Colors ''and ''Downfall, they are getting closer to that ideal, so Volume 6 should more than likely be an improvement over the fights of Volume's 4 and 5. 5. The Budget This one is both one of the biggest issues, but also the toughest nut to crack. Rooster Teeth has alot of money thanks to First Memberships and Donations, but just because they have the money doesn't mean the budget gets access to the money. RWBY is one of Rooster Teeth's more well known shows, some even calling it their flagship series. The problem is, Rooster Teeth focuses on too many projects at once. Most of us I'm sure have seen the Gen:Lock ''promo trailer, and from what I saw, the animation looks to be on the same level of RWBY if not more fluid. And with it, ''Nomads of Nowhere, Red vs. Blue, Camp Camp, RWBY Chibi, ''and whatever else they decide to put in the animation department in the future, RWBY's budget will be less than the ideal. Now, the ideal would be they simply give more of the budget to RWBY. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing the budget and whether or not they would do so/if they even can. So their biggest issue I can't even determine if it even has a solution that can be reasonably done. 6. 'Miles and Kerry''' '''I am not denying that Miles and Kerry have contributed a lot towards RWBY, and alongside Monty, are the creators of RWBY and as such have a say in it. '''Unfortunately, Miles at the least has lost his spark. Miles has done some good work on the show before, and even now 1/5 of the time he can do good. The Raven reveal was nice after all. But if a Writer is kept for too long, they can get in a rut. Look at RvB. Miles wrote the Chorus Trilogy, but that was only 3 seasons. Afterwards he stepped down. He didn't enter a rut. In contrast, he's been writing for RWBY for 5 Volumes, and it is clear he seems to be losing his touch. What needs to be done is Miles needs to either temporarily step down until his creative juices return, or he needs another writer besides Kerry. Someone to bounce ideas off of and go through them that isn't used to his writing style. Kerry won't work cause they've been writing together since the beginning. Maybe have Burnie Burns join as a Writer, or Joe Nicolosi, the Writer for RvB Season 15. They just need a fresh mind. These are in my opinion the main issues with RWBY as a whole right now. But hope is not lost. The last two episodes have given me hope that the series can fix these issues they have. No matter what, for both the good and the bad, the great and the shitty, I will stick by RWBY. I may take a break if need be, but I will return, and I shall remain with RWBY till the day it ends. For I both enjoy it, and I have hope. Hope that faith in a smaller, simple series, can be fulfilled Anyone else agree with these issues? Anyone else see other ways they can be improved upon? Anyone else think they already are improving on them? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Category:Blog posts